"Perhaps it's the Scotty Bowman influence on both teams, but the Wings earned scores close to that of the Blackhawks. The Detroit front office has lost key hockey minds in Steve Yzerman and Jim Nill, but the panel has faith that the duo of coach Mike Babcock and GM Ken Holland will keep this franchise among the league's elite. Mike Ilitch has long been considered one of the league's best owners, always willing to spend what it takes to win a Stanley Cup. The Red Wings also have expanded the role of capologist Ryan Martin and are developing guys such as Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby in front-office roles.

The salary cap and aging stars are a concern for the Red Wings. The duo of Pavel Datsyuk (35) and Henrik Zetterberg (32) are among the game's best, but will come with a cap hit of almost $14 million in 2015-16, when both will be well beyond their prime. The Johan Franzen contract, while not crippling at nearly $4 million per season, will be a burden sooner than later as his play continues to decline."

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Guest Crymson

I'm not sure why you're acting surprised that ESPN is vastly off-base. ESPN neither knows much nor cares much about the NHL. Last year Edmonton was #3 on the ESPN preseason power rankings; this elicited laughs even from members of that organization.

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Yeah ESPN the team that first invested heavily into scouting all over the world, is now copying the Blackhawks. Do these guys even watch/read about hockey?

The DetroitRedWings like all teams, that are drafting late in the first round have to count on boom/bust picks combined with some surefire 3 - 4 liners and develop them in the best possible way. Everyone - including me - could pick a top 5 draftpick it doesn't take much time to go outthere and announce we're pleased to select from... but after the top 5 things are getting interesting and scouts have to earn their money from here on.

The Perfect Human is a 5 round pick!

Edited September 20, 2013 by frankgrimes

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Anyone else bugged by us being "like" Chicago, even though Chicago copied us?

Not only that, IF they are including Toews and Kane as any part of that future score, then their statement about Blackhawks doing all their young investment without the help of Lottery picks is a blatant lie.

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Not only that, IF they are including Toews and Kane as any part of that future score, then their statement about Blackhawks doing all their young investment without the help of Lottery picks is a blatant lie.

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I'm going to go on record disagreeing with you guys. It all depends on who's writing for ESPN. Lebrun is good. And I actually gained a lot of respect for Katie Strang for her coverage of the lockout. But Custance, Hradek, and Buccigross are horrible.

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I'm going to go on record disagreeing with you guys. It all depends on who's writing for ESPN. Lebrun is good. And I actually gained a lot of respect for Katie Strang for her coverage of the lockout. But Custance, Hradek, and Buccigross are horrible.

Lebrun can be very biased, just saying. He is knowledgeable, but some of the stuff he writes is just ridiculous

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Lebrun can be very biased, just saying. He is knowledgeable, but some of the stuff he writes is just ridiculous

Biased how? Toward Canadian teams, or certain players, or what? I'd never suggest that he's not wrong from time to time, but I certainly don't get the impression that he has some axe to grind in favor of a particular team, conference, player, etc.

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“Like Chicago, the Red Wings have done a good job drafting without the benefit of lottery picks"

*lol* Because the Blackhawks didn't benefit from lottery pick charity... Let's pretend their last two Cups weren't won on the backs of their back-to-back 3rd overall and 1st overall draft picks (Toews/Kane).

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